A lot of driving...a lot seen!

Hello guys! So Amanda left you in Carlsbad, New Mexico (which is in the southern part of that state). We are now in Cheyenne, Wyoming, so we have all of New Mexico and Colorado to talk about :)

We left Carlsbad on our way to Santa Fe, NM but making sure we stopped in the White Sands National Monument. This place is beautiful. The sand is so white and so cool to the touch, no matter how hot the day. We drive in and I see kids sledding down the sand dunes... I have never seen that before so I was in completely awe. Amanda tried to sled down on one of our bin tops. However, it didn't work out too well and she face planted haha. Mildly entertaining for me. After playing in the sand for a little bit we decided to head towards Santa Fe.

My idea of Santa Fe is adobe houses everywhere, Spanish influenced restaurants everyone and everyone on horseback haha. I was right on two of the three (no one rode horses). That night, Amanda was set on finding a great little Mexican/Spanish restaurant to eat at. The first one was closed, the second one was crazy expensive, but the third one was just right. Blue Corn Cafe was the name of it...it was so good I bought a t-shirt to remember them. The second day we walked around the town for a little bit. Stopping in the oldest house and church of the US (which happen to be right next to each other). We went into a few other places and then left to our next destination...Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado.

The original plan was to stay there for a couple nights however as soon as we got there we learned that the campsite was closed and we were forced to come up with other options. But before that let me tell you about the Sand Dunes! We climbed up the biggest sand dune I have ever seen in my entire life. 750ft tall!! I'm not the most physically fit person, but usually I don't have that much of a problem climbing up a mountain. But with the air thinning because we were higher up and it being a mound of sand, I was out of air. Amanda was killing me climbing up the stupid sand hill. However at the top it was totally worth it and Amanda got a lot of practice in using her panoramic shooting on her camera. The way down was 100 times easier and took us only about 20 min whereas the climb took us a little over a hour.

Afterwards, we decided to drive to Colorado Springs and stay the night there. We didn't do much in the town (because the only thing I wanted to do was rafting and it was closed), so the next day we drove into Denver. We were planning on staying in Denver but both decided eh, let's go to Fort Collins instead. But before leaving we went to the Denver Downtown Aquarium! There were so many cool things here, even tigers (I know in an aquarium? I thought the same thing).

Finally we left and went to Fort Collins and stayed at a KOA there. It was soo windy though, to the point that I could not sleep at all. So what did I do? My stupid self thought it would be a good idea to sleep in the car. And though I did fall asleep finally, I woke up in some pain haha. Oh well, the price I pay to actually sleep.

We decided to head to Chimney Rock in Nebraska before going to Cheyenne and I was so disappointed. It literally is a rock that is far away... you can't even walk up to it, the national historic site committee or whoever won't let me. And then they tried to charge us $5 a person to go through a "museum." By museum they mean one room that I can see from the entrance. Three hours out of the way for nothing. I got a picture and that's it. Oh well, I guess I would have never known that unless I went. So we are in Cheyenne now, hanging out with Araina's parents who are so nice. It will be so nice to just relax and catch up on the sleep I am so desperately missing out on :( But totally worth missing it for the stuff I get to see! I will post an update soon. Bye guys!

Nadeen